CPSR - IMCO Report on consumer safety: Regulatory overshoot is counterproductive

Published: 14 November 2013

Policies & Issues: Internal Market - Product Safety Legislation

Orgalime believes that the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee’s (IMCO) Report (A7-0355/2013) on the Commission proposal for a Regulation on Consumer Product Safety (CPSR) will not improve consumer safety, it will do just the opposite. 

If the CPSR proposal were to be applied as amended by the European Parliament, it would be a source of confusion to consumers, legal uncertainty, administrative burden, and unnecessary costs to legitimate market operators. 

Many additional requirements are counterproductive because they are either too complex or too vague to be correctly implemented in practice. Besides, the vast majority of companies (especially the smaller ones) and most market surveillance authorities would not have the staff or financial resources to ensure their correct application or enforcement. 

It is regrettable that, in a period of economic crisis, politicians do not strive for simpler legislation with a clear-cut scope, but instead add unnecessarily bureaucratic requirements through overarching ‘safety net’ provisions without assessing their impact on the different product categories under the scope.

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